Say Something
by Wineandscones
Summary: Matthew lives in a fortress of silence he built up to protect himself, Gilbert is determined to get the boy to say something. The bond that grows between them is far from what they expected, but is maybe what they needed. Prucan, AU, Human names used.
1. Chapter 1

**Brief Author Note: Hey guys! This is my first fanfiction, and it's still a work in progress. New chapters should be uploaded weekly. ****Feedback is greatly encouraged :) And if you noticed any mistakes you can let me know and I'll fix them! ****I hope you enjoy!**

Gilbert Beilschmidt noticed the new boy right away. At least he assumed the boy was new. He had to be. He would have noticed those purple eyes framed by silver glasses before, or the soft yellow locks that wafted around the boys pale face. Everyone seemed to completely overlook the boy; bumping into him in the hallway, ignoring the way he struggled with his locker, disregarding the scared look in his eyes that most new students had here. Gilbert didn't overlook him though. The boy caught his attention right away. There was something about the new kid that interested Gilbert.

The boy wouldn't talk.

He'd first noticed it in first period English. The teacher had asked the boy to introduce himself. He had just sat there for a long while, before standing up awkwardly and gave a hesitant wave before sitting back down.

"I mean why don't you tell us your name?" The teacher had asked, looking expectantly at the boy, who didn't respond. He simply slouched further down in his desk and stared off into space. The teacher gave an annoyed sigh but didn't push the issue.

Later on in chemistry, when the teacher called on the boy for an answer, he only shrugged. Though when Gilbert looked over at his notes, he saw that he had the answer written right there. He also learned that the boy's name was Matthew, as it was scrawled in neat handwriting at the top of the page, Gilbert thought, suits him.

Gilbert spent the rest of the class staring at Matthew, well, staring at Matthew and arguing with Roderich. That stupid stuck up prick was unfortunately the only slightly interesting part of Gilbert's day most of the time. At least it was fun when he got all upset and flustered. Every now and again he'd hear what almost sound like slight chuckles coming from Matthew after an insult he'd throw at Roderich. This may or may not have encouraged him to get more creative with his comebacks.

It wasn't long before he found himself fascinated by the boy who wouldn't talk.

Over the next week, Gilbert realized that it wasn't that Matthew couldn't talk; he'd actually seen the boy mutter to himself on several occasions. It wasn't even that he didn't want to; for he'd also seen a few times when the boy went to say something before stopping, seeming like he couldn't quite force the words out. No, it seemed that he wouldn't, maybe by his own choice or by some subconscious tick, but the blonde boy simple never spoke to anyone.

Gilbert was determined to change that.

However, Gilbert often got "determined" to do things and it never turned out very well. He tended to rush into things without fully thinking about it, and things weren't that different in this case. Gilbert knew practically nothing about the silent boy, except for that his name was Matthew and he had a twin brother Alfred; who very obviously had no problem speaking.

This general lack of information did not deter Gilbert in his plans, however, so he resolved that tomorrow he would just talk to Matthew. After all, he'd never seen someone actually engage him in conversation, maybe he was simply waiting for someone to talk to him first. Surely if Gilbert talked to him Matthew would talk back. After all, who could resist talking with someone as awesome as he was?

Matthew found himself fascinated by the boy who wouldn't stop talking. It seemed the white-haired boy never tired of hearing himself speak. Not that Matthew really minded, it was nice to hear him babbling across the room. His voice comforted him for a reason he couldn't quite place. Maybe it's because of his accent, or the "charming" way he threw awesome into his dialect so often, or maybe it was his overwhelming self confidence. No matter what it was, Matthew felt himself drawn to him. So while he would never speak to him, because that went against his rules, he often found himself sitting close by just to listen to the boy talk.

Matthew noticed that not everyone else held the same strange affection towards Gilbert's attention demanding personality as he did. In fact, it became very evident (by actions of Roderich and Elizaveta, two students a grade ahead of Matthew) that some people found him downright obnoxious. In fact, they often voiced their opinion of such, which made Gilbert start arguing with them. Matthew found the whole thing rather entertaining.

Once, he noticed that Gilbert realized he was listening to his conversations. After that it seemed that he started getting more bold with his insults. For some reason that made Matthew nervous. He didn't like people noticing him, bad things happened when people noticed him. Even if Gilbert hadn't said anything yet, talking comes after noticing and that wasn't something that could happen. He swore that he would try to avoid the boy as much as possible in the coming days, and hopefully just go back to being invisible. After all, it was better that way. When no one noticed, when no one saw, when no one cared.

Well, there was one person he couldn't stop from caring.

"Hey Mattie!" Alfred came running down the sidewalk, catching up to Matthew. "How was school?" Matthew shrugged.

"Okay I guess." Alfred was the only one Matthew ever talked to. "Did you have a nice day?"

"Yeah! It was great! There's a lot of cool people at this school, but the cafeteria definitely does not serve enough food. I mean, how do they expect us to survive on only that? The lunch lady actually yelled at me when I went up my third time. I mean, this is the united-freaking-states of America, I'm entitled to eat whatever I want-" Matthew smiled and looked down, getting lost in the sound of his brother's babbling. It was one of the only things that could successfully distract him. It took his mind off of the other things. The things that-

"2 servings just isn't justice! Mattie, are you listening?" Matthew nodded, and Alfred continued ranting about liberty or food or something like that, but Matthew's thoughts were already sidetracked. He tried to listen, but his mind kept going back to what had happened last night.

He knew it was going to be a bad night as soon as he walked through the front door. He had developed a sort of sixth sense about these situations. That's why he told Alfred to go upstairs right away. Alfred protested at first, he always did, but he knew it only hurt his brother more when he stayed around so he reluctantly walked up the stairs. Matthew thought for a brief moment that he could just go up after him. Go up the stairs and lock the door and avoid all of this. But he knew it would only make things worse. He heard his foster father call his name from the kitchen, and he reluctantly walked in.

Matthew absentmindedly rubbed the bruises across his side with the memory. Ever since they'd gotten put in foster care bad things had been happening. It used to happen to Alfred too, but then Matthew started doing things on purpose so it would be taken out on him instead. Eventually, their foster father forgot about Alfred and focused all of his rage, and it's repercussions, on Matthew.

Even though Matthew was glad that his brother wasn't getting hurt, sometimes he wished he could be invisible at home again. Like he was around everyone else. When all of this started, Matthew had hoped that one day, if he was quiet enough, if no one ever noticed him, he'd be able to be invisible, that he'd disappear. So he stopped talking, stopped attracting attention around anyone else. It made things easier. No one noticed him, nobody cared at all. Nobody asked him questions, no one noticed the bruises, no one noticed how hollow he was truly becoming.

Three more years, he thought, I only have to make it three more years. After that he'd be done. No more dealing with anyone, it call all end after Alfred and him graduated from high school. Until then, he could make it through. At least, he hoped he could. Alfred chatted them all the way to the door, then they crossed the threshold and into the house. Time to get another night over with, Matthew thought as he shut the door behind him, and into the one place where he wasn't invisible. The one place he wished he was.

Gilbert made sure to get to English early the next day so he could sit by Matthew. He was still determined to get the boy to talk, even though he seemed to be avoiding him the last few days. Not that they ever really hung out, but he noticed Matthew sitting farther away, not paying attention, seeming to shut himself more into his own little word. He knew Matthew got to first period before the rest of the class, so he figured it would be a good time to get him to talk to him, maybe the boy would be less shy when they weren't as many people.

He smiled and made his way toward the seat by where Matthew normally sat. Sitting down, he began absentmindedly drumming his fists on the desk, thinking about exactly what he should say. He didn't know why he was even thinking about it. Normally he said the first thing that came to mind, but sometimes (okay a lot of the time) that got him into trouble. And he wanted Matthew to like him. Or at least, he wanted to actually get a response out of the boy.

A few minutes later, Matthew walked into the classroom. He was dressed in a red sweatshirt and jeans. His head was down and his blonde, slightly wavy hair was shielding his face from Gilbert's view. His hair looked soft, and yellow, a bit like Gilbird's feathers. The thought made him smile, but the smile fell from his face as Matthew saw Gilbert near the back of the room, and sat near the front instead.

Frowning, Gilbert got up and moved to the seat directly beside Matthew. He saw the boy tense, almost like he was scared. This confused Gilbert, but he still smiled at him, and he saw Matthew look up slightly, violet eyes catching red ones.

"Guten tag Birdie."


	2. Chapter 2

Author note: Hello again. I finished this chapter a little sooner than expected. And same as last time feedback is appreciated and let me know if I missed any mistakes. I hope you enjoy!

"Guten tag Birdie."

Matthew's head jerked up to look at Gilbert. He'd just spoken to him. Moving to sit beside him was one thing, but Gilbert actually talking to Matthew, this spelled trouble for his rules. This shouldn't be happening. It couldn't be, no one at the school ever spoke to Matthew, aside from Alfred. Certainly not this arrogant stranger, he had much better things to do than talk to Matthew didn't he?

He looked into the boy's red eyes for a few moments before looking away and just slouching down. Nope, definitely not talking to him. After all, he said "Guten tag birdy". Matthew wasn't even a bird. He must have been talking to a bird outside the window. That had to be it.

"Hey, Matthew?" Gilbert spoke again.

Oh dear, Matthew thought, this isn't good. Maybe he nicknamed a bird outside the window Matthew? He was grasping at straws, but he really didn't want to deal with the possibility that someone had started talking to him. He didn't know how to deal with this.

"Matthew?" Gilbert poked him in the arm and he jumped slightly, before scooting slightly away and crossing his arms. Forcing himself not to look up at the albino boy.

This is not happening. Maybe if you just ignore him he'll stop. Matthew thought.

"Oh, so you're just going to ignore me? Come on Birdie, that is so unawesome." He could practically hear the smile Gilbert's voice. Still, he chose not the respond, and instead busied himself with becoming very interested in whatever was carved in the desk.

"Birdie, birdie, birdie." Gilbert kept poking him. Finally Matthew sighed in annoyance and looked at the Prussian, raising his eyebrows. Gilbert just smirked. "Good morning Matthew, how are you?"

Matthew rolled his eyes and looked away from Gilbert and toward the front of the room. Unfortunately for him, the white haired boy seemed to not be discouraged by Matthew's apparent lack of interest.

"I'm doing pretty awesomely myself, then again that's pretty normal." Gilbert grinned and leaned back. "It bothers me that I don't know how you're feeling though, so tell me." When Matthew didn't respond Gilbert moved his leg over and nudged his foot with his. "Hello, are you even listening?" He waved a hand in front of his face and Matthew rolled his eyes again before sighing batting Gilbert's hand away, then returning to looking down. Gilbert kept talking. "Look, if you haven't gotten this by now I'm not going to give up here. You can look annoyed or ignore me all you want but I'm going to keep talking to you, so you might as well say something, cause you're not getting rid of me until you do."

Matthew looked up at Gilbert. They stared at each other for a long while before Matthew leaned down to his backpack and took out a notebook. Placing it on his desk, he opened it and wrote two words on a blank page.

Go away.

He dropped the notebook on Gilbert's desk.

Gilbert smiled, "Kesesese, doesn't count Birdie. I'm not leaving you alone until you talk to me." There was that name again, Matthew decided that since writing didn't count, according to Gilbert, then it wouldn't really be breaking the rules he made for himself if he asked just one thing. He took back his notebook and scribbled something down before passing it back.

Why do you keep calling me Birdie?

Gilbert shrugged. "Because it suits you I guess." Matthew was about to write down why when other people started entering the classroom. Gilbert handed Matthew back his notebook. "We'll talk more later, alright Birdie?" He smiled at him expectantly, and for some reason Matthew found himself nodding. Then the teacher walked in and called class to order.

Throughout the period Matthew caught himself sneaking glances at Gilbert. At one point Gilbert caught his eye and grinned, wagging his eyebrows at him. He quickly looked away and felt his cheeks warming up. He didn't know why he was blushing, he didn't even know why he kept looking at Gilbert. He certainly didn't know why Gilbert was looking at him, or even talking to him. It made him feel uncomfortable.

But a good sort of uncomfortable. Matthew's thoughts started to get away from him, No stop that. Don't think like that. It's not a good sort of anything. You can't have this boy talking to you, you certainly can't have friends. Friends means caring, and caring means getting hurt. You can't afford to get hurt anymore, not after what had happened.

The bell rung and Matthew found himself jolted out of his thoughts. He risked one glance to his left and found that Gilbert was smiling at him.

"Walk you to your next class?" He asked with an almost hopeful tone to his voice. Matthew just looked away and gathered up his things. Gilbert did the same, but Matthew rushed out of the room before Gilbert could catch up with him. He needed to get away from all this, he couldn't be having these thoughts again, he needed to-

BAM!

He was knocked to the ground and his things spilled out of his hands. He rubbed his head and looked up to see a tall boy with slicked back blonde hair looking around confused before seeing Matthew on the ground.

"Mein Gott." He bent down and began collecting Matthew's things, "Sorry, I guess I didn't see you there." Matthew blinked. This boy had an accent that sounded a lot like Gilbert's. The boy held out Matthew's things, and Matthew nodded before taking them and standing up. He felt like he should say thank you, but he couldn't manage that. So instead he just nodded again and walked off to his next class.

It wasn't until History that Matthew realized he was missing something. He carried around a small journal that acted as a sort of diary, and it wasn't with his books or the rest of his things. Oh great, Matthew thought, That blonde boy must have it. I hope he doesn't read it…That would be disastrous. Matthew put a lot in his journal. A lot of very personal information. Information that he definitely didn't want some stranger reading. He'd need to get it back, and soon.

Gilbert didn't get a chance to talk to Matthew during chemistry, or any other time during the day. At least he'd made progress this morning. Writing was a step up from no communication at all. The thought made Gilbert smile. He was sure that he could get Matthew to talk soon, it would only be a matter of time.

After school he walked home in an incredibly good mood. Not that he wasn't normally in a good mood, after all, someone as awesome as he was had a lot to be happy about, but there was just something that was making him feel more awesome than usual. Gilbert had a pretty good feeling that the something in question was Matthew.

The boy was interesting. The silence thing for one, but then also the way he seemed to be having extreme inner conflict almost all the time. The way he'd sneak glances and blush, the way he'd cross his arms and slouch down like that made him invisible. Gilbert doubted that the boy could do anything to be invisible to him. There was just something about him that seemed special, that seemed worth noticing.

When he got home he found Ludwig, his brother, sitting at the kitchen table, his books stacked neatly on top of it, one textbook open in front of him. Gilbert noticed a small book next to Ludwig's other things, one that looked very similar to the one that Matthew carried around.

"Hey Bruder." Gilbert smiled and sat next to Ludwig.

"Guten tag Gilbert." Ludwig didn't even look up from his textbook.

"Where'd you get the book?" Gilbert asked, picking up the small blue book and waving it in his brother's face.

"Hmm?" Ludwig looked up, "Oh, I believe the new student dropped it, I was going to return it to him tomorrow."

"Are you talking about Matthew?"

"Maybe?" Ludwig looked confused.

"Blonde soft looking hair, glasses, violet eyes, rocks a lot of hoodies?" Gilbert looked at his brother expectantly.

"Oh, yes I think that was him."

"Awesome, I have first period with him, I'll just bring it to him tomorrow." He smiled and walked out of the kitchen and up to his room, taking the book with him. Once he got to his room, he plopped down on the bed and decided to take a closer look at the book. It had journal written on the front of it, and for a long time he debated whether or not he should look inside.

On one hand, this was Matthew's private thoughts. He probably didn't want anyone to read this, probably assumed that no one ever would. It was wrong to intrude on such privacy. Not to mention if Matthew ever found out that he had read it, he'd probably be extremely upset

On the other hand, this might help him understand the boy better. And honestly Matthew wasn't giving him a lot to work with. He needed the boy to speak to him, it wasn't good for Matthew to be so quiet. Not speaking couldn't have been healthy. Maybe this was for his own good. Maybe if he read it he could get Matthew to talk and that would help him in the long run.

Yes, Gilbert decided. He would read the journal for the purpose of helping Matthew. It wasn't snooping it was…research. Yeah, research. He smiled, opened the front cover, and started reading.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! Sorry this took sooooo long, I just got really busy with school and finals. I promise after next week things will be updated much more regularly. Anyway, I know this one is a bit short, and it's far from fantabulous, but I promise I'll have a better chapter up soon. Thanks for reading, and onto the story!**

_It's been four months._

That was the first sentence. Scrawled in tight neat handwriting across the first page. The date said that this entry had been about eight months ago.

_I honestly don't know if I'll ever stop feeling this empty, or if this feeling will always be here. The social worker is nice enough, but she keeps saying that she understands what we're going through. I don't' think she does. I don't even know if I understand what we're going through. All I know is that I need this feeling to go away, I need to feel happy again. Alfred's worse off than I am. I've never seen him so serious before. I know he's going through a lot right now, but so am I. And right now all I really want is my brother, but he's not really there. And I guess I just feel alone right now._

_We got placed in a new home. The family seems nice enough, but the house reminds me of our old one too much. The new school sucks. Everyone there is a complete asshole, and Alfred thinks so too. He seems to think the way to deal with them is to be an asshole right back. I just try to keep quiet and not attract their attention. It hard though, because being twins with Alfred means people get angry at me instead of him a lot. And Alfred just isn't being sane enough right now to correct them. I hope that things will get better soon, but I don't think that they will._

_I really screwed up._

That's all that entry said. Just that one sentence. Gilbert wasn't sure what it meant, and he felt his curiosity begin to stir more so than it already had.

_We're in the new house today. It's smaller than the last one. Something seems off about it, and not just it but the family we're staying with. There are other kids here and they all look terrified. One of the younger boys had bruises all over his arms. Part of me wants to tell someone, but then we'd get moved again. And they already told us Alfred and I might not be able to stay together if this placement doesn't work._

_I can't stop thinking about when Papa was in the hospital. The memories keep coming back to me in flashes. I remember the nurse coming and telling us the news, and how Alfred started crying, and how Dad started yelling at them and telling them that this was a hospital, that they were supposed to help people here, that they needed to start doing their fucking jobs because there's no way they should be giving up this easily. And I remember how I didn't do either of those things, I didn't cry like Alfred, I didn't yell like Dad, I just kind of ghosted through the next three days without really feeling anything. Until the monitors stopped beeping. Then I wished I could go back to not feeling anything. I try not to think about that, it makes me go back to low places, but sometimes, when we're in this house without our family, I can't help but think back to the days where everything started changing. I just wish everything would go back-_

Gilbert shut the journal. He needed to stop reading. He hadn't realized just how personal this was.

_Why didn't I just leave it alone!_ He thought to himself, running his hands through his pale hair. Matthew was going to be so mad at him when he found out, and it seemed like the kid had enough to be upset about. The thought brought Gilbert's attention back to what he had just read. Matthew was in foster care with his brother. Obviously something had happened to his parents, he just wasn't sure what. The boy seemed to be going through a really tough time, no wonder he didn't want to talk to anyone. He just felt so guilty, not only because he looked through Matthew's journal, which he was seriously regretting, but also that he couldn't think of a way to help Matthew.

Gilbert was beginning to think he should just leave Matthew alone. No, he couldn't do that. Even if he wanted to (which he didn't), he felt like he should so something to help Matthew. After all, Mattie probably just needed someone to help cheer him up, and Gilbert was awesome at cheering people up. He couldn't lie to Matthew though, which meant he had to tell him that he read part of his journal. He just hoped that Matthew wouldn't be too angry. Maybe there was something he could do to make it up to him, maybe there was something he could do to make it even…Gilbert smiled, he had an idea. Now he just had to wait until tomorrow.

Matthew yawned as he walked into his English classroom. He hadn't slept well the night before, not that he ever sleeps extraordinarily well, but last night was worse than usual. Alfred had gotten angry and spent the whole night yelling, until finally he stormed off. He didn't come home until about 4 in the morning, and Matthew had a hard time sleeping until he came home. He didn't know where he had been, but it really didn't matter at the time. He was just relieved that his brother was okay. Matthew didn't know what he would do without Alfred, and he hoped he never had to find out.

After Alfred had gotten home, he thought he'd be able to sleep easier, but he found his mind occupied with when he'd be able to see the blonde boy and get his journal back. As far as he could remember he didn't have any classes with the boy, so he'd have to find him in the hallway, or hope that the boy would find him. Either way he wasn't exactly looking forward the the encounter. He was particularly looking forward to any part of school that day, but he didn't want to ditch, that would mean a whole day home alone, and he didn't really feel like being by himself tomorrow.

As he sat in his normal seat, he realized with some (okay, much) relief that Gilbert wasn't waiting for him today. He still wasn't sure how he felt about the Gilbert situation. It was strange for anyone to try to talk to him, especially someone like Gilbert. It made him uncomfortable. But in a way, it intrigued him too, excited him…

No. He had to stop thinking like that. He just needed to ignore Gilbert until he lost interest. He didn't know why Gilbert had any interest to begin with, it wasn't like he was that interesting.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone sitting down next to him. Blinking, Matthew turned to see Gilbert sitting in the desk next to him, smiling. But something seemed a little off, Gilbert almost looked, nervous?

"Hey Birdie." Matthew turned away and stared at the board. Gil just cleared his throat, "I um," He cleared his throat again and Matthew heard a thud on his desk. Looking down he saw his diary. He looked up at Gilbert, shocked and more than a little confused. "I kind of read your diary."


End file.
